To leave or not to leave? Son’s transfer dilemma

According to reports from various sources, Bundesliga side Wolfsburg have offered Tottenham Hotspurs €30m for South Korean ace Son Heungmin.

Son joined Spurs only a year ago from Bayer Leverkusen for the same amount (€30m), signing a 5-year deal with the North Londoners.
Now German tabloid Bild claim that Die Wölfe have already reached an agreement with Sonny and it is only a matter of time until Spurs accept the offer from Wolfsburg.

The whole situation seems bizarre. First of all, Wolfsburg fished 8th in Bundesliga last season, this means there is no European football for the men from Niedersachsen. Whereas Spurs, after finishing 3rd in EPL last season, will be competing in Europe’s most prestigious club competition; UEFA Champions League. With Nacer Chadli on his way to West Brom for some £13m, Spurs desperately need to hold on to their attacking players to be competitive both domestically and internationally.

The media frenzy seems to have an ulterior motive; Arsenal have shown interest in signing German international Julian Draxler from Wolfsburg, which means Wolfsburg will have to find a replacement. The likely replacement is Son. It is also suggested by the German media that club top scorer Bas Dost’s €12m transfer to Portuguese powerhouse Sporting and pending Schalke-move of Daniel Caligiuri will give Die Wölfe the boost they need for the Sonny bid.

To add fuel to the fire and escalate the transfer talk, Son was missing from EPL action over the weekend. Although I would like to think that Mauricio Pochettino was resting Son for his A-match in Korea (vs China 1/9), many fans in Korea were not happy that youngsters Josh Onomah and Harry Winks were used instead of Sonny.

It is frustrating for Sonny fans given the 24-year-old’s lack of playing time for Spurs last season. Erik Lamela was similarly linked with a move to Inter before the start of last season, but the Argentine opted to stay in London and fought for his place; he eventually won over Pochettino and Spurs fans with some brilliant performances.

It is early to say whether Son’s London adventure has been a success or not, but it is definitely reassuring to know that despite the lack of playing time last season and missing out on a military exemption, it has not deterred Wolfsburg from forking out whopping €30m on the highly-rated attacker.

In his latest interview with Korean media, Son claimed that he knows nothing about the transfer and he will only focus on the game against China. But wherever he goes, it is for certain that the Korean fans will follow Sonaldo.

I agree that Son needs more consistent playing time, but I think there’s a chance for him to get decent playing time. With Chadli’s departure, Son is the first choice replacement for Eriksen and Lamela. During the season, they might get injured or lose form. Because Tott is lacking some pace, he could be an important player for them.

Spurs have made just two additions to their squad this summer in Dutch striker Vincent Janssen and former Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama, further crowding up the space for Son. Sometimes it’s just pure math.

Jun, I thought you were so sure that Son was going to be in the EPL. Playing for the Spurs.

Son needs to find a place in Tottenham starting 11. If he can’t overcome this, he won’t have a future at a bigger club in the EPL or laLiga. The main reason he chose Spurs over Chelsea is because of playing time and precedent – 박주영’s lack of playing time at a huge club. I think he should go back to the Bundesliga within the next year if he doesn’t get playing time. He doesn’t have the physical attributes to survive in the EPL– so similar to Kagawa. We need him in form for WC2018 not sitting on the bench for Spurs.

Yeah. Shades of PCY are understandable. Though Poch said Son’s not going to be sold “this window”, which potentially means he could move in winter if he’s still not getting enough playing time. The Bundesliga interest is there.

K League Classic

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P

1

Gyeongnam

9

2

Gangwon

9

3

Pohang Steelers

7

4

Jeonbuk Motors

6

5

Suwon Bluewings

4

6

Incheon United

4

7

Jeju United

4

8

Jeonnam Dragons

3

9

Sangju Sangmu

3

10

Seoul

1

11

Daegu

1

12

Ulsan

0

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March 18, 2018

Suwon Bluewings

1 - 1

Pohang Steelers

Ulsan

0 - 1

Jeju United

Jeonbuk Motors

2 - 1

Seoul

March 17, 2018

Jeonnam Dragons

1 - 3

Gyeongnam

Gangwon

2 - 1

Sangju Sangmu

Incheon United

0 - 0

Daegu

English Premier League

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Manchester City

81

2

Manchester United

65

3

Liverpool

63

4

Tottenham Hotspur

61

5

Chelsea

56

6

Arsenal

48

7

Burnley

43

8

Leicester City

40

9

Everton

40

10

AFC Bournemouth

36

11

Watford

36

12

Brighton & Hov…

34

13

Newcastle United

32

14

Swansea City

31

15

Huddersfield Town

31

16

Crystal Palace

30

17

West Ham United

30

18

Southampton

28

19

Stoke City

27

20

West Bromwich Albion

20

Hwang Heechan

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1

Red Bull Salzburg

62

Bundesliga

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Bayern München

66

2

Schalke 04

49

3

Borussia Dortmund

48

4

Eintracht Frankfurt

45

5

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

44

6

RB Leipzig

43

7

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

39

8

Stuttgart

37

9

Borussia Mönchengladbach

36

10

Augsburg 1907

35

11

Hertha BSC

35

12

Werder Bremen

33

13

Hannover 96

32

14

SC Freiburg

30

15

Wolfsburg

25

16

1. FSV Mainz 05

25

17

1. FC Köln

20

18

Hamburger SV

18

Kwon Changhoon

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10

Dijon

38

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The Tavern of the Taeguk Warriors is an online community of Korean football/soccer supporters. We bring you news, analysis and opinion in English about Korean players abroad, youth players and the K League.